The invention relates generally to amphibious vehicles and, more particularly, it relates to an amphibious pontoon or ferry vehicle carrying at least two floats which during the land travel of the vehicle are stacked one above the other above the frame of the vehicle, whereas during the travel in water the floats are folded laterally to extend in alignment with the deck or platform of the vehicle to form a roadway.
In known embodiments each float is hinged to one side of the vehicle by means of two links firmly connected to the body of the vehicle and each link always includes two hydraulic cylinders which at one end thereof are linked to a triangular guiding member and at the other ends thereof are linked between the body of the vehicle and the floats.
Amphibious vehicles of this kind have been employed for briding a river from any point on its bank. During the travel on land the floats are stacked on the vehicle body. On reaching the place of destination the floats have to be brought quickly and securely into their unfolded condition. For this purpose, in prior art vehicles, the floats have been tilted in their hinges by hydraulic cylinders. In a known vehicle of this type (German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2,302,880) the tilting has been effected by means of a triangular guiding member. The use of an angular lever for the tilting movement has been also suggested in German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2,318,139 and in the published German patent application No. 2,135,910.
Amphibious vehicles have been used also for loading and unloading ocean ships. In order to facilitate, by the aid of the amphibious vehicles, the loading and unloading of operation ocean ships from any point of the seashore it has been suggested to use amphibious trucks for transporting cargo from freighters lying in an anchorage, to places of destination on the land and vice versa. The merchandise to be shipped is transported by such amphibious trucks from various sites on the land to the freighters in the anchorage.
In developing countries for example, there frequently takes place deliveries of heavy duty trucks, bulldozers or other heavy duty construction machines and, in many cases, there are insufficient loading or unloading structures on the wharf to handle such overweight loads. But even if suitable harbor equipment for unloading the excessively heavy pieces are available on the wharf, the absence of roads which would enable the transportation of such equipment over distances amounting to several hundred kilometers from the harbor to a place of destination, makes the use of heavy duty amphibious trucks desirable.